Forester

I would hope for another good cup run and be in with a shout of Top 6 or 7 if one of the big boys slips up. Some of the crazed posters on here want to have a chin wag with the fans of about thirty other Premier League and former Premier League clubs from West Brom all the way down to Bolton and Sheffield Utd to find out how well we are doing. That includes Leeds, Derby, Blackburn, Forest and Villa who have won the title and in some cases won the European cup in the last few decades.

Spot on. The three teams who finished below us last season that have improved are Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton. None of them have contended with the additional fixtures in Europe, and one of them have cited their best player this year as someone who got goals for us last season. The only team we should feel fed up about finishing below would be West Brom, and I haven't given up hope of us finishing alive them. And where was the cup final delivered by either Koeman or Poch?

We have conceded one goal in three games,while putting three past Sakho and Palace. I would say the wheels aren't coming off....

Interesting point, I thought he was outplayed by Clasie who is a more pleasing on the eye passer of the ball. But I have seen some impressive stats quoted that shows Hoj played a major part. There was much pi** taking when Les said best group of midfielders in the league, and it may have been a bit OTT but when you look at these two behind Romeo, Davis and a much improved JWP it isn't as stupid as some thought.

Great summary

Great day out, lovely to watch football not wrapped up in layers! Thought we looked in a different league footballing wise first half, and when on the counter attack for much of the second half. Then showed some steel and great goalkeeping at the end. I have been saying Puel is a class act all season long, and as others have commented you can see how he is improving players throughout the squad. Thought our two centre backs were magnificent. Palace and West Brom both play a style of football that makes that position a very difficult one to play and they have come through really well. Finally a word for Long, while he can't finish my god does he put in a shift for the team.

I agree Steve. Puel is the thinking man's (and woman's!) manager. I notice a huge divergence between the vocal few on here versus the folk that actually get to the games home and away....

Could someone better than I am with technology retrieve the link that shows everyone's pre-season predictions? I doubt Puel is under performing against most with a top ten finish likely and cup final. Hope someone can do this

Is the most likely player to leave this summer.....

So are you saying it's bleak times? How many years have you followed Saints? Assuming you are right and we lose both games in hand we are....yep still top half.

Bizarre reading some of the hysterical comments. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, thought we were excellent first half and should have scored one if Tadic's two great chances at least. Excellent save from Boruc to stop JayRod effort. We went to hung ho with our subs, well intentioned to score but weakened our midfield with Boufal offering no protection to Bertrand and Bournemouth sacrificed a striker to bring on Wilshere and thereby dominated midfield. A draw fair in the end, but missing our two natural finishers understandably means we won't take as many chances until they are back. Time to hand back to the fanatical bed wetters for the latest episode of blaming "clueless Claude, fat Kat, greedy Les" or anyone else they can have a pop at. Meanwhile we are top half with two games in hand....

Spot on

Or 6 away points from 9. Could you help by briefly outlining a list of teams to have won or drawn at Spurs this season please, and also confirm whether or not when Tadic's leg was kicked in the penalty area you thought it should have been a penalty? Look forward to reading the update, and in the meantime hope you are getting over the defeat at Stevenage yesterday

Done, took 5 mins

Spot on. He was fantastic at Swansea as has been mentioned, and has won two games this season single handedly with outstanding strikes. This type of player won't be magical every week, but will win you games

This is bull.....I have good info that he loves life here and is very happy. Doesn't mean he will retire here, but he is not unhappy

I don't agree re Clasie who I think is under rated, but more generally I think we will need to actively move a few on. We will be in one less competition next season and there is a limit to how many disenchanted spare players you want while maintaining decent coverage for injuries and suspensions. Players on the payroll now that I would look to move on would be: Gazza Taylor Martina Gardos Reed Isgrove JayRod Shipping those seven out would probably free up cash to fund wages of two top quality players. I think we need a second holding midfielder so that we can play 4231 without using Davis in that role. And we will either need to sign Caceras longer term or bring in another centre back. The above is working on the basis that we don't sell one of our star players, and if we do they will also need replacing

We look a real threat going forward, I never thought i would see eight goals in two away games scored by us. I think Caceres will be brought in after today, Watford just lumped it up front and fought for scraps and it was crudely effective but contrasted with our beautiful attacking fluid passing football. Two other things, I thought our fans were superb and still in Wembley mode even singing straight after we went 1-0 down. Also good to see Claude come a long way over to thank the fans at the end. He usually likes to take a back seat and let the players bask in the glory but I think it's good to see him feel increasingly appreciated

I agree with this. Fine margins, and I would add into the mix that Forster's shots to save ratio hasn't helped. But we look a good side I think. Everton are out of reach I am sure, but catching West Brom is tough but not unrealistic particularly given the fact that we still have them to play.

On coach with many hours of the journey left, but who cares! Credit to Puel-a number of us last week (check the threads!) said after Wet Spam game that we needed to shield Yoshida and Stephens more by either switching to 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1. When I saw team sheet I feared the worst and assumed we would again be 4-3-3. But Puel asked Davis to play a holding role alongside Romeo for 80 mins and the two of them were superb. We looked far more solid, wining second bals and very fluid upfront. And Gabi looks a class act...two points off 9th and a cup final. Happy loyal travelling fans

Feel very upset reading this, a fan for all those years subjected to such thoughtless behaviour. As others have said, and as a regular away fan, it's depressing to see someone choose to stand up and block the view of a child or someone struggling to stand behind them especially if they are the first row to do so

Yes agree with this, or 3-5-2 as an alternative. I fear that without changing from essentially 4-3-3 we will continue to leak goals with our current centre backs

What an elegant reply. Could you be troubled to check the number of shots ON TARGET for us and them, and then post again please? Look forward to the update, many thanks

You did watch Saints last year, yes? Bertrand played as part of a back three numerous times, including our win at Old Trafford. Was it "insane" under Koeman?

Posted a similar thought just now on the post match thread. Yes I think that is a potential solution until VVD back. Other way to go is 4-2-3-1 with a second holding midfielder alongside Romeo who doesn't screen centre backs as well as big Vic did, albeit is a better all round footballer than Wanyama